Alexander C. Kaufman2015-03-31T17:15:49-04:00Alexander C. Kaufmanhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/index.php?author=alexander-c-kaufmanCopyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc.HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Alexander C. KaufmanGood old fashioned elbow grease.Meditation Would Help Wall Street, Deepak Chopra Saystag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//2015-03-31T12:03:28-04:002015-03-31T15:59:01-04:00Alexander C. Kaufmanhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/alexander-c-kaufman/
The alternative medicine advocate, who starts each day with two hours of meditation, said even 15 minutes of meditation will help give financial workers the rest and focus to tackle their high-stress, fast-paced jobs.

“It makes them more productive because they’re centered,” he said during an appearance on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “They’re not distracted.”

Chopra began practicing mindfulness as a busy internist and endocrinologist, when he smoked a pack of cigarettes a day to deal with the stress of treating up to 40 patients at a time. Studying brain chemistry, he realized that consciousness and emotional states had a powerful effect on the body.

“Stress is the No. 1 epidemic of our civilization,” Chopra said. “Indirectly or directly, it’s related to things like insomnia, anxiety, fear, but [also] cardiovascular illness, inflammation in the body, heart disease, autoimmune illnesses. Many kinds of cancer are connected directly or indirectly to inflammation in the body. So meditation is a very effective way to start tackling this problem, this epidemic of stress.”

Even just 15 minutes of meditation provides more rest than deep sleep, he said. Among those who follow his work is hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones, who has his entire staff meditate daily, Chopra said.

“[It’s] just awareness of your body, of your breath, of your mental space, of your sensations, images, feelings, thoughts and also reflection,” he said. “Who am I? What do I want? Do I have a purpose? What am I grateful for?”

“Prayer is you telling god what to do,” he said. “Meditation is you listening.”
]]>Why You're Getting Bombarded With More Alcohol Ads Than Ever Beforetag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//2015-03-30T09:27:20-04:002015-03-30T09:59:01-04:00Alexander C. Kaufmanhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/alexander-c-kaufman/
Spending on alcohol ads has shot up 400 percent over the last four decades, according to a new study from the University of Texas at Austin. Yet the amount of booze Americans are buying has remained relatively the same. Brands are fighting harder to keep drinkers, but they're not convincing them to drink more.

“It’s gotten harder and harder to reach consumers,” Gary B. Wilcox, the lead author of the study and a professor at the college’s advertising school, told The Huffington Post on Friday. “The size of the market isn’t expanding, so the intensity for market share has greatly increased over the last 40 years.”

The following chart shows how the average American's alcohol consumption has changed over the years:

Between 1971 and 2011, alcohol sales remained relatively anemic, the study found. In 2012, the average American drank about 24.5 gallons per person, up slightly from 22.2 gallons in 1971 but down from a 1982 peak of 28.8 gallons.

That starts to look pretty pitiful when you consider the recent intensity of the industry's ad spending. Alcohol purveyors have been buying up ad space on any available medium since 1971, the year the Federal Trade Commission lifted a ban on advertising booze via broadcast outlets. As more and more money has been sunk into ads, the amount of alcohol consumed hasn't changed all that much.

Here's an inflation-adjusted look at how the advertising for alcohol has skyrocketed:

Recently, global beer giants Anheuser-Busch InBev, SABMiller and Heineken have ramped up spending in the face of steeper competition from small-batch brewers, whose business depends more on concocting interesting flavors and less on marketing to a large audience.

“Consumers are switching from quantity to quality,” Nick Petrillo, alcohol industry analyst at the research firm IBISWorld, told HuffPost. “Whereas the very nature of these macrobrewers is to sell palatable, mild beer that generally everyone can agree with and enjoy and just sell as much as possible.”

According to the study, advertising sales for beer increased to 64 percent of the overall alcohol market in 2012, up from 47 percent in 1971.

But beer consumption has remained pretty flat, as demonstrated in the following chart:

In response to weak sales, big-label brewers have gobbledupmicrobreweries in a series of acquisitions. And in cases where smaller competitors can't be bought out, larger companies have opted to bash them instead.

]]>Tesla's Self-Driving Feature Leaves Insurers Idling As States Scrambletag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//2015-03-28T17:35:18-04:002015-03-28T17:59:01-04:00Alexander C. Kaufmanhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/alexander-c-kaufman/roll out a self-driving feature on some cars this summer has regulators, especially in its home state of California, scrambling to write new rules.

Current California law allows automakers to operate autonomous vehicles -- but not regular drivers.

“We have been trying to get a handle on what they are planning to do,” Bernard Soriano, deputy director of California’s Department of Motor Vehicles, told The Wall Street Journal. “We are knee-deep in it.”

Auto insurance is regulated on a state level, so any new policies must await a ruling by the states.

That leaves auto insurers, who represent the next hurdle in the push for driverless cars, idling with the engine on.

“This is so new, there’s really no track record upon which to assess what’s the likelihood that there will be a crash or lawsuit resulting from a crash,” Michael Barry, vice president of media relations at the Insurance Information Institute, an industry-funded nonprofit, told The Huffington Post on Saturday. “It’s in its infancy.”

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.

On the bright side, the insurance industry has nimbly adjusted to other new technologies in recent years, Barry said.

He pointed to new programs created for drivers at car-hailing services, allowing them to get a dual policy that separately covers time spent driving for personal and commercial use.

“The auto insurance industry has adapted to technological changes in the past, and will continue to do so in the future,” Barry said. “Look at what’s going on with Uber and Lyft.”

Overall, he predicted that driverless cars will eventually lead to fewer crashes. But it's still far from clear who will actually be responsible if and when a crash does occur.

“Liability is going to become an issue,” Barry said. “The burden might be on the manufacturer of the driverless vehicle to prove that it is not responsible for what happened in the event of a crash.”

Tesla’s autopilot feature will only be available on interstate highways, as CEO Elon Musk has said the technology is not yet “safe on suburban streets.”

Fully automated vehicles are still a ways off from becoming the norm. If a circumstance arises where an accident is unavoidable -- say, for instance, a child runs out into the street -- the computers that control the car do not yet have the ethical reasoning to deduce whether they should sacrifice the driver by suddenly swerving away, or run down the child. Last September, Ron Medford, Google’s safety chief on its driverless car project, said the company had not yet begun to study that issue.

Either way, even when self-driving cars do become widely available, the rate of turnover in the U.S. car market will delay their widespread adoption.

“The average car on the road is about 11 years old, so it takes decades for the U.S. fleet to turn over,” Barry said. “I think we’re far away from seeing a lot of driverless cars on the roadways.” ]]>Why The Original Sriracha Is Finally Making Snackstag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//2015-03-28T14:31:16-04:002015-03-28T14:59:01-04:00Alexander C. Kaufmanhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/alexander-c-kaufman/
For years, food brands have courted Huy Fong Foods -- the maker of the iconic red rooster-branded Sriracha hot sauce -- for a licensing deal. The California company, bolstered by the cultish love of its scarlet-colored chili condiment, shied away from any deals, preferring, as it had for over three decades, to remain independent and focused on its core products.

But when Israel, whose company is known for high-end flavored popcorn, sent a letter in November 2013 to Huy Fong CEO David Tran, he had no idea the Sriracha maker was in hot water.

The first product of the Pop! Gourmet partnership.

To Israel's surprise, Tran agreed to the idea of a partnership, praising the Pop! Gourmet samples Israel had sent along. Days later, the popcorn mogul received another surprise: Huy Fong was embroiled in a bitter fight with officials in Irwindale, California, over spicy fumes allegedly emanating from its factory there.

“Boy, was my timing good? Absolutely,” Israel told The Huffington Post on Friday. “Did they feel that I had the right approach? Obviously there’s a level of trust there.”

This week, Pop! Gourmet unveiled a new line of Huy Fong-branded Sriracha products. The first, true to the company’s core brand, is a spicy popcorn, bearing the red rooster insignia synonymous with Huy Fong. Over the next two months, the company will roll out Sriracha-flavored hummus, mayonnaise and ketchup, too.

The move beyond its main wheelhouse of sauces comes as Huy Fong, which has since resolved its issues in Irwindale, is facing heated competition from big-name rivals. In May, Tabasco -- perhaps the most recognizable hot sauce brand in the United States -- launched a copycat brand of Sriracha sauce, even adopting the same red, white and green color scheme popularized by Huy Fong on its bottle. Last month, the food giant Heinz released its own take on the Southeast Asian hot sauce with a Sriracha ketchup.

Note Tabasco's choice of colors and the shape of the bottle.

“I do fear Heinz and Tabasco because they are two very big and well-known companies,” Tran told HuffPost in an email last month. “My company can lose market share and income if they are successful.”

Huy Fong did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

The partnership with Pop! Gourmet appears to be Huy Fong’s first attempt to broaden its customer base. Pop! Gourmet does not pay for the licensing, Israel said.

“There are no dollars involved,” he said. “I’m not paying them for the brand.”

Instead, Huy Fong will get its name out there on more products that people will buy, in hopes of driving them to buy the original product. In turn, Pop! Gourmet taps into the avid “red rooster” fan base.

“You’re seeing a lot of different companies right now looking to extend their product mix to just get their brand in front of consumers,” Erin Lash, an analyst at the market research firm Morningstar, told HuffPost.

For 35 years, the company employed a rather unconventional marketing strategy. In fact, it managed to cultivate a loyal following by not marketing at all.

Heinz chose a familiar color scheme.

Rather, Huy Fong’s hot sauce spread slowly from Asian markets in Los Angeles, where Tran founded the company in 1980, to major supermarkets. Until recently, the strategy worked, and the company was as synonymous with Sriracha-style sauce as Ziploc is with sealable plastic bags. Tran has never paid for advertising, but by 2013, the company was pulling in $60 million a year in sales, a number projected to grow by 20 percent annually.

But because the term “Sriracha” is derived from Si Racha, a seaside town in Thailand, Tran was unable to patent the name. That has allowed imitators to rush into the market.

“What really aggravates them and gets their juices boiling is when companies mimic their designs,” Israel said of Huy Fong. “You wouldn’t go out and try to do a chocolate bar and make it look just like Hershey’s.”

It remains to be seen whether Huy Fong Foods can, in fact, make a name for itself in snack foods. But for now, the market is undoubtedly hot on Sriracha.

This Google Trends chart shows growing interest in Sriracha.

]]>Uber, Standard Hotel Step Up To Help East Village Fire Victimstag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//2015-03-27T10:33:08-04:002015-03-30T10:59:01-04:00Alexander C. Kaufmanhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/alexander-c-kaufman/explosion tore through two buildings in Manhattan’s East Village on Thursday afternoon.

The posh Standard Hotel in the East Village offered free three-night stays to anyone who lived in or near the 2nd Avenue buildings gutted by the seven-alarm fire.

Our hearts go out to those affected by the fire. If you live btwn 119-125 2nd Ave, swing by w/ proof of address & your 3 nt stay is on us.

Abigail Adams, a spokeswoman for the Red Cross, told HuffPost that 79 adults and one child registered for help with the organization overnight, because they lived in one of the destroyed or surrounding buildings. Adams said she expects that number to grow.

Case workers were working with families in need Friday morning at a library on East 10th Street.

The explosion, which occurred in the basement of 121 Second Ave., left 19 people injured. Mayor Bill de Blasio said the blast appears to be gas-related.

UPDATE: March 30 -- On St. Mark's Place, a block away from the fire, Café Orlin said it would offer free meals to any residents who lost their homes.

"It's just heartbreaking," Paul Kennedy, the lunch bistro's manager, told HuffPost. "It's nice seeing the East Village come together to support these people who have lost so much."

Christopher Mathias contributed to this report.

If you know of any other businesses or organizations stepping up to help victims of the East Village fire, please let us know at alexander.kaufman@huffingtonpost.com.]]>고기 첨가 항생제의 양이 급상승하고 있다tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//2015-03-26T22:07:30-04:002015-03-26T22:31:23-04:00Alexander C. Kaufmanhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/alexander-c-kaufman/

*이 글은 허핑턴포스트US의 Antibiotic Use In Meat Is Soaring를 번역한 글입니다. ]]>This Man Quit Finance To Walk Dogs In The Norwegian Woodstag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//2015-03-26T14:40:55-04:002015-03-26T14:59:01-04:00Alexander C. Kaufmanhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/alexander-c-kaufman/
“You have to get in in the morning before your boss, and you have to leave after your boss because that way your boss think you’re working much harder than you are,” he says in a short documentary profile of his life posted on Vimeo last week. “It’s a competition for who can be sat at their desk pretty much wasting their life. That’s not a way to live your life.”

Today, Hein walks dogs in the Norwegian woods. According to the film, he's finally found his bliss.

"Portrait of a Dogwalker," by 21-year-old Norwegian filmmaker Fredrik Harper, chronicles the bearded Englishman's decision to leave his job and head for the French Alps. He began dating a Norwegian woman and followed her back to Oslo. There, he realized his two great passions: Being outside and being around dogs.

The few dog-walking businesses in the Norwegian capital limited themselves to small city parks and seemed to be taxing for both the canines and their walkers, Hein noticed.

“I thought, wow, there’s an opportunity here. I’d love to be out there five days a week,” he says in the doc. “I basically get paid to be an adventurer and hang out with dogs.”

Now, he takes his white van and drives a pack of dogs out to the wooded nature parks outside the city and hikes all day with them.

“It’s so easy to think in our heads, ‘Oh, I can’t do this because I’ve got this and I’ve got that,’” he says. “No! Just change.”]]>Steve Jobs Became A Better Boss When He Curbed His Narcissismtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//2015-03-25T14:59:54-04:002015-03-25T15:00:49-04:00Alexander C. Kaufmanhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/alexander-c-kaufman/
Executives who curb their confidence in their vision by admitting mistakes and limitations and acknowledging the contributions of others tend to command the most respect and loyalty from their teams, who thereby deliver results, according to a new study from Brigham Young University’s Marriott School of Management. However, humility, like meditation or golf, may take some practice.

And even so, narcissism is often a necessary tool for success -- as it was for the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, whose obsessive commitment to his vision for the iPhone maker helped shape it into the world's most valuable company.

“Humility is not meant to replace some of the quintessential aspects of leaders,” Bradley P. Owens, assistant professor of business ethics at the university, told The Huffington Post. “It’s meant to supplement and buffer them from the extremes of narcissism.”

The study, published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, surveyed 876 employees at a large Fortune 100 health insurance company and asked them to rate 138 leaders in the company on their humility and effectiveness, and how motivated the employees were by their supervisors.

Researchers measured the narcissism of the leaders by asking them to describe themselves by choosing between statements such as “I am an extraordinary person,” or “I am much like everybody else.”

“The leaders that performed the best were those who had high narcissism and high humility,” Owens, the lead study author, said.

As a real-life example of how narcissism and humility can mix successfully, Owens pointed to the portrayal of Steve Jobs in the new biography Becoming Steve Jobs, penned by journalists Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli.

The book, released Tuesday, chronicles the tech titan’s humbling years after his first run at Apple, which ended with the board firing him. Roughly a decade later, Jobs returned to the company and led it in a stunning turnaround. Paired with the findings from Owens’ study, this telling appears to link the softening of Jobs’ initial hotheaded abrasiveness with Apple's rise to global dominance.

Until he was fired in 1985, Jobs was known for being extremely demanding on people around him, including then-CEO John Sculley.

“That was part of his greatness,” William Simon, co-author of iCon: Steve Jobs, the Greatest Second Act in the History of Business, told ABC News in 2011. “But he drove people too hard. ... Being gentle was not part of his demeanor.”

By the time Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, he had learned to balance his leadership style.

“When he came back in his second stint, people described him as someone who was still narcissistic, but had learned to temper his narcissism in important ways,” Owens said. “That’s why Steve Jobs was really a great example of what we were looking for.”

That means, too, that humility can be a learned skill.

"Even if you have a narcissistic leader, and in a sense it's causing them to be less effective in certain ways, people can proactively practice virtues like humility and develop their character," Owens said. "Over time, it will begin to stick and enhance their leadership effectiveness. ]]>Here's A Breakdown Of The Heinz-Kraft Mergertag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//2015-03-25T09:35:32-04:002015-03-25T09:59:01-04:00Alexander C. Kaufmanhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/alexander-c-kaufman/are merging into the world’s fifth-largest food and beverage company.

Fans of squirting Heinz ketchup on Kraft macaroni and cheese may find that the two food giants have long gone well together. But the new company will unite more than just those two brands.

]]>Antibiotic Use In Meat Is Soaringtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//2015-03-21T19:19:35-04:002015-03-21T19:59:01-04:00Alexander C. Kaufmanhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/alexander-c-kaufman/
Soaring demand for meat across the world has caused a major uptick in the amount of antimicrobial drugs in pork, beef and poultry, according to a new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

But as bacon sales sizzle and China -- where pork is the favored meat -- becomes wealthier, pig farmers around the world are meeting demand by using about four times as much antibiotics per pound of meat as cattle ranchers. Poultry is a close second.

This charts shows that pigs, for the most part, consume the highest density and amount of antibiotics.

The antibiotics serve two purposes. First, they help fatten up livestock at a faster rate. Second, they keep animals healthy despite being raised in overcrowded, filthy conditions where disease spreads easily.

In 2010, farmers around the world used more than 63,000 tons of antibiotics to raise livestock. By 2030, the researchers expect that number to rise to more than 105,000 tons.

“People are getting richer and want to eat more meat,” Thomas Van Boeckel, an epidemiologist at Princeton University and an author of the study, told The Huffington Post by phone. “Antibiotics help to provide a lot of meat for people who can afford it.”

Consumption of antibiotic-fed meat poses a major threat to humanity. Exposure to human antibiotics through meat has given rise to antibiotic-resistant “superbugs,” which some researchers suggest could kill up to 10 million people worldwide by 2050 if left unchecked.

As awareness of this threat grows, some companies have removed antibiotics from their meat supply. Earlier this month, McDonald’s vowed to remove human antibiotics from its chicken supply, though animal antibiotics would continue to be used and the human drugs would remain in beef and pork products. Chicken chain Chick-fil-A removed all antibiotics from its chicken last year.

But Chipotle remains the food industry’s poster child for antibiotic-free meat. The burrito chain showed its commitment earlier this year when it suffered a pork shortage after discovering issues with its supplier.

Still, the industry seems unlikely to change unless more consumers demand antibiotic-free meat. Legislation has done little to stymie the growth of the use of antibiotics in the United States. In China, no such legislation exists.